


The Tale of how Iwaizumi Hajime got stuck with an annoying merman named Tooru

by xLovelyPoisonx



Series: Fish Tales [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Iwa's parents die; that's the character death, M/M, Minor Character Death, it's established early on, not really a spoiler??
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-17
Updated: 2016-06-17
Packaged: 2018-07-15 17:23:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7231810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xLovelyPoisonx/pseuds/xLovelyPoisonx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first time they meet, Hajime has run away from home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Tale of how Iwaizumi Hajime got stuck with an annoying merman named Tooru

**Author's Note:**

> I have so many ideas and not enough inspiration to fully execute them these days. For those of you that are reading my 'Always with the best intentions' fic, I promise I'll get chapter 5 out as soon as possible. It's in the works now, but I'm struggling at this one section, and I really want it to be the best that it can be before I post it. Thank you for your patience. And with that said, I hope you enjoy this!

The first time they meet, Hajime has run away from home. Tears cascade down his cheeks, but it’s impossible to tell with the rain pelting his tanned face. He’s glad for the rain. With the rain, no one will know from looking at him that he’s actually crying, because no one in their right mind would think that Iwaizumi Hajime, the toughest six year old in town, is even capable of crying. 

He gets the news shortly after returning home from school. He wears a huge, goofy grin, bookbag smacking against his back as he bounds into the living room and comes to a screeching halt before the couch. The sight that greets him is abnormal. His grandparent’s are present, and they don’t look happy to see him today, as they normally do. His grandmother looks so small, so frail, so unlike herself. She’s hunched over, hands clasped over her face, and Hajime can hear her muffled sobbing, and see the way she shakes with it. His grandfather looks at him seriously, face tight and eyes conveying the sadness that he doesn’t allow himself to openly express. He has an arm around his wife’s shoulders and holds her tightly against his side. A part of Hajime knows already that something is very wrong, but he refuses to acknowledge it. 

“Where’s Mom?” He asks, all childish excitement and curiosity as he tips his head to one side in order to regard his grandfather from a new angle. It’s a mistake. The older man looks even more tired from this angle, and the lines etched into his face seem deeper; it’s as if he aged ten years since they last saw one another.

His grandmother shakes violently as a loud, hoarse sob bursts free of her throat, and Hajime feels something in his chest tighten. Before either of his grandparents can answer, he bolts out of the room, dropping his bookbag carelessly to the floor somewhere between the living room and the kitchen. 

“Mom? Mom!” He calls but receives no answer. “MOM!” He tries once more before darting out of the kitchen and up the stairs. She isn’t answering because she can’t hear him! So he has to go to her, that’s all, and then he can tell her about his day. He can tell her about how he managed to catch the biggest beetle of any kid on the playground, and, and he can show her the painting he made just for her. She’ll want to put it on the fridge for sure, to display his masterpiece, as he knows she’ll call it. 

She isn’t in their bedroom when Hajime gets there. She isn’t anywhere in the house. His father isn’t home, either. The pair aren’t coming home, he’s told. That’s why his grandparents are there. They’ve come to take him back home with them, as his only available living relatives. They don’t live anywhere nearby. In fact, they live an hour away, in a mountainous region with clear, crisp air and thick vegetation. Hajime used to love it there. He used to love visiting every summer vacation because there are lots of bugs, and streams that run with the cleanest, and prettiest crystal blue water he’s ever seen.

But he’s never wanted to live there. He loves his grandparents but they can’t hope to take the place of his mom and dad! So why are they coming to take him away from his home? What if his parents come back and he’s not there? They’ll get worried!

Hajime cries himself to sleep in the backseat of his grandparent’s car at some point during the long drive back to their place. And when he wakes, he’s in a new bed, in a different house, in an area that feels completely foreign.

It’s the middle of the night, probably around three in the morning, when Hajime throws himself out of bed and rushes out of the house. His grandparent’s are sleeping and totally unaware of his escape, and he’s glad that they aren’t awake to stop him. He’ll run back home if he has to, he tells himself as he trudges bare-footed down the rocky path leading up to his grandparent’s house. It’s raining, and he’s glad, because now he can pretend that those are raindrops on his face, rather than tears.

He runs until his chest is heaving, and his lungs are burning, and the bottoms of his feet are bleeding. He runs until he trips on a stray rock in his path and takes a tumble down a grassy hill. And once he rights himself, he realizes he’s lost, and hurt, and he bites his lip to stifle a sob of disappointment. He’s stronger than this, he reminds himself. Strong enough to handle this on his own and find his way home back to his parents who are bound to be waiting for him now.

Hajime stands on shaky legs and protesting feet, and hobbles forward toward the sound flowing water. He needs to clean his feet, otherwise he runs the risk of getting an infection in any of the numerous cuts that decorate the bottoms of his feet. 

It’s a river, Hajime comes to realize as he plops down on the bank by the edge of the water. And though it’s dark, the water still shimmers a beautiful, crystalline blue, reflecting the sparse rays of the moon that filter in through the cracks of tree branches. He hovers one foot a short distance above the water and cups the water into his hands before rubbing it along the abused sole of his foot. 

A low hiss escapes his parted lips as his fingers dig tiny pebbles out of the tender flesh of his foot. His face is scrunched up in concentration as he devotes himself to the task at hand. It’s no doubt that he’s totally unaware of the eyes trained upon him because he’s tired, and sore, and now cold on top of it all. If not for these factors than he would have definitely noticed! Definitely. 

“What are you doing?” The voice is close, and soft, inquisitive and curious. The voice belongs to a young boy that looks to be around Hajime’s age, well, from what little Hajime can see of him. The boy is submerged in the water, despite the night’s chill, and looks strangely comfortable.

He looks Hajime over with an intensity that makes Hajime uncomfortable. Those chocolate colored orbs look eerie in the dim moonlight, raking over every inch of him, scrutinizing him. They lock onto his foot, still hovering above the water, and suddenly lithe, pale fingers are encircling Hajime’s tanned ankle and yanking him forward closer to the water’s edge. 

Hajime squawks in surprise, frozen in place momentarily by those dark eyes when they meet his gaze. He doesn’t know this boy, and his parents and grandparents both warned him against interacting with strangers, but there’s something strangely alluring about the other boy. His presence is overwhelming, as if demanding that your attention never divert from him, and his gaze is intense enough to swallow Hajime whole -- 

Something flickers in the strange boy’s gaze before he shifts his attention to the sole of Hajime’s foot, and suddenly he’s leaning forward. The only warning Hajime receives regarding the other boy’s intentions is a brief glimpse at a pink tongue before it’s gliding along the bottom of his foot.

He shudders at the odd feeling, face screwing up in disgust before he regains control of his limbs and kicks at the weirdo’s face. 

“Get offa me!” He shouts, flailing madly until the boy let’s go with an affronted noise.

“Is that any way to thank someone that just cleaned those nasty scratches of yours? Rude!” The pretty boy (and when did Hajime begin to think of him as pretty? It isn’t untrue - he is uncharacteristically pretty for a boy - but it’s an odd thought to have regarding someone that just licked his foot) crosses his arms over his chest and tips his head in order to look down his nose at Hajime.

“What are you talking about? You probably made it worse! There’s bacteria in your mouth, you know!” Though the situation certainly doesn’t call for it, Hajime is glad for the opportunity to flaunt his knowledge of bacteria. He’d heard about it on tv once. Educating this idiot on the dangers of licking other people’s feet feels good.

Pretty boy is clearly unimpressed with Hajime’s knowledge. “Ha? Maybe for you humans, but I’ll have you know that my mouth is very clean! And my saliva has healing properties.” Clearly these are words he’s picked up from someone else. It’s evident in the way he carries himself now, hands poised on his hips (or so Hajime assumes, given he can’t see anything below the water) as he puffs out his chest with pride.

Hajime scowls at the other boy, huffing as he draws his leg in toward himself to check out the sole of his foot. He isn’t humoring the idiot boasting about magic saliva, no. He just wants to prove how stupid a thing like that is, and not to mention impossible. What kind of dumbass makes up stuff like-

The cuts are gone. Where bright red, angry looking scratches of varying lengths, some jagged and others straight, once lay, there is nothing but slightly rough skin to be found.

Hajime finds himself in awe, gaping at the bottom of his foot as though it suddenly had the ability to talk, or something equally outlandish, when pretty boy speaks up again.

“Don’t you have something to say?” He asks, smug now as he grins at Hajime expectantly. 

Hajime’s dark brows furrow above his curious emerald eyes as he leans forward, staring intently at the strange boy. 

After a few seconds, Pretty Boy seems to realize he has Hajime’s attention, and he flushes a faint pink as he leans back, putting more space between them. “W-what?” He splutters, clearly not used to being on the receiving end of such an intense stare. 

“You said, ‘you humans’, so what does that make you?” Hajime had never heard of anyone or anything that could close wounds with saliva. It was gross, but also...Really cool. Not that he’d ever tell this dumbass that he thought as much.

Pretty Boy huffs haughtily, apparently regaining his composure as Hajime poses to him a question he actually knows the answer to. He seems all too proud to answer, too, though he gives Hajime this look as if to say, “How could you not know?” it’s condescending and annoys Hajime to no end, but he really doesn’t know, and despite his better judgment telling him to get the hell out of here, he wants to know.

“I’m a merman, of course.” And there it is, like the stories his mother would occasionally read to him, and the tales his grandfather would weave about his days as a fisherman, a sheer, near translucent fin attached to a tail of shimmering scales.

That night Hajime’s life changed forever.

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah! This is the start of a new series I'm going to be doing centered around Haikyuu characters as mermen! I'm going to be writing for multiple pairings, and each will get a piece just like this one that explains how they met! If you have any requests, I'd be happy to hear them. Comments and kudos are appreciated~


End file.
